Articles Posted inDamages in Personal Injury Cases

Today, we are looking at trial and verdict information for Chattanooga/Hamilton County, which is the Eleventh Judicial District. The Administrative Office of the Courts’ report reveals 711 tort lawsuits (claims for personal injury or wrongful death) were filed in Chattanooga during the last fiscal year and Chattanooga courts disposed of 693 tort cases. During the last year, 37 cases went to trial in Chattanooga with 21 jury trials and 16 bench or judge trials. Of the 37 cases went that actually went to trial, only 10 resulted in the injured party receiving any money. So in more than 2/3 of the trials, the injured party received nothing.

And in the cases the injured party actually won, the verdict news is similarly bleak. Not a single case resulted in a verdict of $100,000.00 or more. The total dollars awarded for all ten cases was $303,648.00 so the average award in each case was $30.365.00. Of course, we do not know the facts of each one of those cases but we do know this: there is a reason they call it a trial. It is hard, emotionally-draining and exhausting for the parties and their attorneys. And most injured people who go through a trial expect their recovery to be more than that, and it should be if they have serious injuries.

We really can not emphasize enough how important it is for you to select an experienced and well-qualified lawyer. Of course, we hope you hire us and we believe our awards and client testimonials speak for themselves. But even if you do not hire us, use this information sheet to help you find a skilled lawyer who can help maximize your recovery. If you would like to schedule a free and no-obligation consultation, simply fill out this form or call us anytime at 615-742-4880 or toll-free at 866-812-8787. We handle all personal injury and wrongful death cases on a contingency basis so we only get paid if we recover money for you.

Last year, 938 tort lawsuits (claims for personal injury or wrongful death) were filed in Knox County. 38 cases went to trial — 23 of them were jury trials and 15 were judge or bench trials. Of the 38 case that went to trial, the injured party recovered money in less than half of those trials (18 of 38).

Of the 18 cases that actually went to trial and resulted in a verdict for the injured or deceased party, 14 of those cases had an award in the range of $0 to $99,999.99. Three cases had verdicts in the range of $100,000.00 to $999,999.99 and only one case had a verdict in excess of $1,000,000.00. The average award for verdicts in Knox County, Tennessee was $149,205.00, a number driven significantly upward by the one verdict that was in excess of $1,000,000.

Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee are in the Twentieth Judicial District. For the year ending June 30, 2013, 1,571 tort cases were filed in the Twentieth Judicial District and 1,441 tort cases were disposed of by either trial, motion, dismissal, etc. Only 66 cases went to trial in Davidson County – 35 were jury trials and 31 were bench or judge trials. Of the 66 cases that went to trial, 43 resulted in a verdict for the injured party. Here is the breakdown of the awards:

·The vast majority of the cases (34 of them) resulted in verdicts that were less than $100,000.00.

The Administrative Office of the Courts has released the Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013. The report provides detailed information on each judicial district in the state. For instance, the report indicates the number of tort cases (claims for personal injury or wrongful death) filed in each district. It also provides information on how quickly cases are being disposed of in each district, the number of jury trials, the number of bench or judge trials, the average jury award, etc.

At The Law Offices of John Day, P.C., we carefully review this report looking for trends in tort cases or in a particular judicial district. Over the next few days, we will be posting summaries from the report about the big four: Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville. And over the next few weeks, we will be updating our website to reflect the new data for individual judicial districts.

But for today, here are the statewide numbers for the fiscal year 2012-2013:

We hope that this information will assist you as you attempt to understand Tennessee law of damages. Our website allows has lots of other information that can assist you in getting a better grasp on Tennessee personal injury law, so take some time to review other pages on the site as well. Of course, each case is different, so be sure to speak to a competent, experienced lawyer before taking any action that will affect your legal rights.

Under Tennessee injury law, a person who causes harm to another is responsible for the reasonable medical costs incurred by the injured party to diagnosis and treat injuries that were caused in the incident and to pay the present day value of future medical expenses likely to be incurred in the future as a result of injuries caused in the incident.

However, the at-fault driver’s insurance company is only responsible for future medical expenses that are more likely than not to occur in the future, not those that might occur. Thus, your ability to recover future medical expenses for injuries that arise out of car or truck accident is dependent on medical testimony that, more likely than not, an injury that happened in the accident will require medical treatment in the future.

The following example will help in understanding the law. Assume you are hurt in a Tennessee truck accident and suffer a fractured hip. You undergo hip surgery and physical therapy. Your total medical bills are $60,000. The insurance company wants to settle your case, but you and your lawyer are concerned about the risk of future surgery because your doctor has told you that you might have to have hip replacement surgery in the future. Hip replacement surgery is expensive, and you want to have the at-fault driver’s insurance company pay for the surgery if it occurs. How can you make that happen?

Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 0

Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,99 – 0

Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 0

Total damages awarded in all cases – $0

Average damages awarded – $0

There was not a single trial in a personal injury or wrongful death case in Dickson County, Tennessee in the year ended June 30, 2012. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Dozens of Tennessee counties had no personal injury or wrongful death trials during the same period, and others had one or two trials. Even the second largest county, Davidson, had only 69 trials (47 of them jury trials) that year. Shelby County had only 79 (47 of them jury trials).

Total personal injury and wrongful death cases resolved in court – 1958

Total number of cases going to trial – 79

Total number of jury trials – 47

Total number of non-jury trials – 32

Total number of cases in which damages were awarded 50

Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 35

Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,99 – 11

Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 4

Total damages awarded in all cases – $40,443,910

Average damages awarded – $808,878

These statistics show one of the great flaws of statistics. The total damages awarded figure includes an award of $20,000,000 that was significantly remitted by the trial judge. Thus, the average damages awarded" figure is skewed significantly. Also note that the twenty-nine (29) cases in which the plaintiff received no damages is not included in the "average."